USA WILL RETURN TO EGYPT

28/02/2017

İlknur Şebnem Öztemel-TDO-The top commander of American military operations in the Middle East, General Joseph L. Votel said during a visit on Sunday that the United States wanted to resume major military exercise with Egypt that President Barack Obama had canceled in 2013 due to protests and killing hundreds of protesters.

He said “It is my goal to get that exercise back on track and try to re-establish that as another key part of our military relationship”. General Votel’s comments came shortly after meeting with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, top Egyptian military and Defense Ministry officials.

Former president Barack Obama suspended all joint military operations and delivery of various military gadgets such as F-16 fighter planes, M1A1 Abrams tanks and Harpoon missilesin 2015 after the Egyptian military ousted Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president and a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

However, Trump will have good relations with Sisi as he described him as a “fantastic guy”. Moreover, Egyptian Christians supports Sisi too. They see him as a bulwark against repression by Islamist extremists. Nevertheless, many of them have fled El Arish because of Sisi’s failure to protect them from the growing extremist threat. Lastly in December, an Islamic State suicide attacked a prominent Cairo church during Sunday Mass, 30 people were killed.